The present invention relates to a traveling toy system which displays images captured with a video camera, which is installed in a traveling toy that travels using a potential energy, on a video display device.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-279648 (JP2006-279648A) discloses a toy system in which a video camera, which is installed in a traveling toy operated by remote control, captures an image and transmits it to a video display device via the Internet so that the operator of the system can view the image captured by the video camera.
In conventional traveling toy systems, images displayed on the video display device are captured at a fixed frame rate irrespective of the traveling speed of the traveling toy. When the traveling speed of the traveling toy does not vary so much, the image quality displayed on the video display device is almost stable even if the traveling speed of the traveling toy is changed. Accordingly, viewers do not feel something strange. However, if the frame rate (the number of frames per second) of the video camera is determined based on the condition that the traveling speed of the traveling toy is low even though the variation in the traveling speed is large, when the traveling speed of the traveling toy is high, the motion of image display is not so smooth compared with when the traveling speed of the traveling toy is low. Namely, the motion of pictures (objects to be captured such as an ambient view around) may be viewed discontinuously as if advanced frame-by-frame. In particular, since the objects to be captured by such toy are in many cases household utensils of daily use installed in the room and are not a vast and vague landscape as seen from a real vehicle, viewers are very likely to feel something strange. Accordingly, it has been difficult for a traveling toy system to make viewers feel as if they were really riding on the traveling toy.
When the frame rate is determined based on the frame rate at the time that the traveling speed of the traveling toy is high, viewers can enjoy smooth images without feeling something strange whether the motion of the traveling toy is slow or fast. However, in this situation, motion pictures taken at a high frame rate must be always displayed even when the traveling speed of the traveling toy is low, which means a large amount of information is always transmitted to the video display device. As a result, there is a problem with an increased total amount of power consumption. To solve the problem, it is necessary to mount a large-capacity electric storage means for power supply onto the traveling system, which makes the toy more expensive.